Midi Ext Instrument sending CC to Guitar Pre/FX is awesome

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syncanonymous
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20 Aug 2017

It works great, easier to set up than I expected.

I wonder if any other guitarists are doing this?

Today, I successfully modulated parameters in my Digitech GSP2101 sending Matrix CV to CC using the Reason External Midi Instrument. I was expecting to be hitting my head on the desk, but old school MIDI OUT set up was a doddle. I have never been too good with old school midi in the past, so this summer I decided to work on my limited knowledge and do a midi task every day and the penny is starting to drop :-)

I started watching That Pedal Show on YT recently and have really gotten inspired. I have a fair bit of gear that has been gathering dust for many years and decided to get a nice guitar rig going.. I have a Fender Cyber Twin (1st gen) & Digitech 2101 & WH 1 and a couple of little guitar amps. Today I had my little Peavy Rage 158 holding up the left side of the stereo out, CT on the right and the 2101 feeding the front of the CT and it sounded great.

The Cyber Twin gets its share of hate and that's a shame cuz it is awesome tool if you know how to use it. I have an Evolution UC33 that I never got along with in years past. I always found it flaky with Reason. So, that UC33 spent most of the past 10 years in its box. Last week I mapped 18 CCs of the Cyber Twin to knobs and faders of the UC33 and it blew my mind. Being able to control that many parameters from across the room with my ears in the optimal throw zone of the amp is the way it is supposed to be. Previously, the only way I had controlled my CT was with one or two expression pedals or walking back and forth to the amp, which is frustrating at best. 18 parameters is a whole different story! I was on one program/patch for 4 hrs with control I'd never known before. And the only thing I had to buy new were a couple of 5 pin midi cables. Sometimes it is worth dusting off the old stuff and attempt to maximize potential :-)

So, after that bit of experimental bliss, I had wanted to see if I could feed CV modulation out of Reason to control FX parameters on the 2101 and CT. The 2101 is known for its pitch shifting, and there is no way to control the modulation I was routing via Reason earlier today with one's foot. I was surprised at how easy it is to set up the external midi...Next I gotta try the CT as well.
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syncanonymous
Posts: 477
Joined: 16 Mar 2015
Location: UK and France
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18 Sep 2017

The past couple of days I have been working on using Reason to pass live midi knob and fader twiddling and automating parameters using the External Midi Instrument sending Matrix and Lectric Panda Shape modulation via cc. Shape is just awesome, I have always wanted this functionality in Reason. Shape is such a simple idea beautifully executed. Sending CC is pretty solid, I haven't investigated latency but it's not a big deal for my current uses...I'm just stoked I can use the functionality in the first place.

The Digitech GSP 2101 is really happy receiving CCs, works great because the CCs can be disabled from displaying on the 2101's display. The Fender Cyber Twin doesn't allow for the display to not show the currently modulated parameter, so if it is receiving 18 different cc modulations, then Real Time knob and fader twiddling becomes a mess. Also, its probably best not to throw aggresive modulation at the motorised robot knobs. Sadly, Fender did not provide the ability to disable the display and/or motorized knobs, to my knowledge.

At first I thought the erratic real time knob issue with the Cyber Twin was due to the UC33 internal program and/or its communication with Reason or my audio interface sending dodgy CC values...then I thought I tracked it down to the GSP 2101 footcontroller, but further experimentation points to the displaying of parameter modulation to be the issue. It's not a big problem, either send CC or do Real Time control to be safe, although doing both simultaneously does work, but a demon could jump out at you if you're not careful. I haven't sent sequencer automation yet, I am sure it will work just like twiddling a knob or fader or sending CV.

LOVING Shape for this purpose!
RSN 10.4d4_9878_RME UFX+_Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz__Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR4-3000
ASRock Fatal1ty Z370__Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX__Samsung 960 PRO/ M.2-2280 NVME SSD
:reason: :re: :recycle: :PUF_figure: :rebirth: :refill:

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